Intel 18A process boots operating systems, production starts in 2025

Intel announced on Tuesday that its key products on the Intel 18A process, Panther Lake (AI PC client processor) and Clearwater Forest (server processor), have been out of the manufacturing process. With this, both processors have completed their initial phases and have even been tested to enable and boot operating systems. The company claimed that the key achievement was achieved just two quarters after tape-out. Tape-out specifically marks the completion of a chip design process and indicates that it is ready to be manufactured as a physical product.

Intel 18A processors discontinued

Chipset manufacturing is a complicated process with multiple critical steps. First comes the chip design process, where a new design is conceived virtually. It then undergoes rigorous testing to ensure it meets all specifications and design rules. Once the design is finalized, the chipset is manufactured. This process is also known as manufacturing, where the design is materialized and another series of tests are performed to ensure it still meets the specifications.

Then secondary packaging, testing and optimization takes place according to the requirements of the original equipment manufacturers. Once all this is done, the processor goes into mass production.

In a newsroom afterIntel highlighted that the two leading products under the new Intel 18A node technology, the client-side AI PC processor Panther Lake and server-side processor Clearwater Forest, have both left the manufacturing phase. The chipsets have also been tested for powering and booting operating systems, highlighting that testing has also been completed.

Interestingly, Intel 18A RibbonFET integrates gate-all-around (GAA) transistors and PowerVia backside power technology. Simply put, RibbonFET is an advancement in transistor design. It offers improved performance and power efficiency compared to its predecessor, FinFET. PowerVia is a reinterpretation of how power is delivered to a chipset. Instead of following the traditional method of adding power and signal lines in the same plane on the front side of the silicon, it moves the power delivery to the backside.

Intel has also indicated that the Panther Lake and Clearwater Forest chipsets will go into production next year.